Looking For Trouble

Undermining the Patriarchy Every Chance I Get. And I Get a Lot of Chances

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Hec

Hec

HecateDemeter is a woman, a Witch, a mother, a grandmother, an ecofeminist, a lawyer, a gardener, a reader, a writer, and a priestess of the Great Mother Earth.

Blog entries tagged in Politics

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful Lughnasadh.  I hope that you are harvesting all that you can manage and just enough to share. 

Here in the mystical MidAtlantic, there are lots of jokes about sneaking onto our neighbors' porches to leave bags of zucchini; we can all get overwhelmed this time of year by what our gardens produce.  I want to remind everyone in that (enviable) situation that most food closets and soup kitchens will gladly take extra produce -- they're masters at turning out soups and casseroles filled with your extra produce.  It's not so much a sacrifice as a way of sharing, a way of continuing and reviving the gift culture that may, one day, supplement, if not replace, capitalism.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

After the terrible shootings in Aurora, Colorado, proponents of allowing mental patients to buy and carry assault weapons warned Americans in favor of gun control not to "politicize" the tragedy.  Similarly, after Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials insisted that "now is not the time to play the blame game."  It's become an expected response anytime something bad happens:  Don't Politicize the Tragedy!  

Which is odd, when you think about it, because, in a democracy, politics is how we go about trying to address national problems.  And when a tragedy brings some problem (gun violence, global climate change, underfunded relief agencies, etc.) to the forefront of our attention, that seems like a great time to start talking seriously about the problem.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Constance Tippett Chandler
    Constance Tippett Chandler says #
    This why we need a strong central government with regulations. Can you imagine a privatised FEMA? We would be charged to be saved,
  • Makarios Ofiesh
    Makarios Ofiesh says #
    If I might venture to suggest a slightly different framing of the issue: talking like responsible adults about matters of demonstr
  • Hec
    Hec says #
    Byron, You are right; "tragedy" does have a diff meaning in theatre. I am grateful for your wise, womanly wisdom, as well. Bles
  • Byron Ballard
    Byron Ballard says #
    Yes! I will do my best to politicize this occurrence (after all these years in theatre, I have a different definition of tragedy).

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

@BenjySarlin is right:  Although today Mitt Romney told a crowd in Las Vegas that, "I'm convinced that the path [Obama's] put us on is the path to Europe.  Or, I jokingly say...to California," it's difficult to imagine Obama telling a crowd, even jokingly, that, "I'm convinced that the path Romney would put us on is the path to Mississippi."  And if he did, the outrage would be unending.

Old Dr. Jung was onto something when he wrote about shadows and projection.  For decades, the political Right has loudly insisted that the political Left holds "regular Americans" in contempt.  (They've been admirably vague about precisely who is a "real" American; allows everyone to image that they must be insulting someone else.)  Spiro Agnew announced that Americans who opposed the war in Viet Nam were an "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."  The Moral Majority whipped up lower-income, white Christians by implying that an "immoral minority" of snobby liberals looked down on the "moral majority" as it eroded "American values."  George W. Bush, a child of generations of financial and educational privilege, ran as a brush-clearing Texas rancher with whom you'd love to have a beer, against John Kerry as a rich, "French," jet-skiing (apparently, only rich liberals jet ski) liberal.  (We'll just ignore the fact that Bush bought that ranch just before beginning his political campaign, cleared brush only in front of the media, and sold the ranch immediately upon leaving the White House.)  Despite decades of economic policies that hurt working-class Americans, the Right has been able to paint the Left as made up of arugula-eating, latte-drinking, snobs.

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  • Tom Terrific
    Tom Terrific says #
    Like old Dr. Jung, I think you’re onto something as you write about shadows and projection. As it happens, if Obama told a crowd,

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

You can, as we all know, put four Pagans in a room and get (at least) six definitions of Paganism. So it's not universally true, but it's more-true-than-not and more-true-of-us-than-of-the-general-public that Pagans honor our ancestors. Daughter of a dysfunctional family, I've had to work on this practice. I've reached back into time, through meditation and trance, and developed a family tree that works for me and I've adopted more than a few Ancestors of the Spirit: people whose writings, and actions, and lives "raised" me much more so, in many cases, than did my own blood relatives.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Rose
    Rose says #
    Glad you fixed it. It was beautiful. The clip you used should be used in all History classes, including college Intro courses to
  • Hec
    Hec says #
    Rose, My mistakes entirely. Anne and her DH have now fixed my mess and it is, hopefully, easier to read. Thanks so much for com
  • Rose
    Rose says #
    Your hyperlinks codes are visible and it's difficult to read your piece.

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